4. ABOUT ME
•Nedra Allmond – Senior SharePoint Project Manager, PMP / Business
Analyst Microsoft Certifications: MCSE, MCTS
•Worked with SharePoint since 2006 and been in the IT industry for over
15 years.
•MCTS whose background includes working with the Department of
Defense, the aerospace, entertainment, legal, and biotech industry, as
well as non-profit organizations.
•User Advocate.
•Co-chair for SharePoint Saturday Los Angeles and has been a speaker
for numerous SPS Events
•Co-founder of the San Fernando Valley SharePoint Users Group.
•Served Women in SharePoint – National Board, West Regional President
/ Board Member, and Los Angeles Chapter President / Board Member.
Email: nedraallmond@live.com
Twitter: @NedraAllmond
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nedraallmond/
Regardless of size of the project, movement though the stages is the same.
Initiation: A solid project initiation will not only set your project up for success, but it will also lay the groundwork for all future stages. During initiation, you'll get the project team members assigned, brief them on the overall project goals and ask the client or project owner as many questions as possible so you can plan the project efficiently. It is also a great time to build team enthusiasm about the project and collect any last minute details that might influence project planning.
Planning: Once you've initiated the project and gathered all relevant information, you'll then begin planning your project. The planning stage depends on the size of your project, how much information you have to organize and how large your team is. The result of planning should be a clear project plan or schedule, from which everyone will follow their assigned task.
Execution: Now that you have a solid project plan, the team can begin executing the project against their assigned tasks. It is the stage where everyone starts doing the work. You'll want to officially kick-off the execution stage with in-person meetings to ensure everyone has what they need to begin executing their part of the project.
Monitor and Control: While the project is in the execution stage, you'll begin monitoring and controlling it to ensure it's moving along as planned. There are a variety of ways you can monitor and control a project. Casual check-ins with team leaders, organized daily "stand-ups," or more formal weekly status meetings are effective. The information that comes out of these meetings or communication channels will inform the feedback loop and ultimately any re-planning and adjustments that are necessary to the project.
Project Close: Once all the details and tasks of your project are complete and approved by the client or project owner; you can finally close your project. The closing of a project is just as important as its initiation, planning, and execution. You'll want to document all the information from the project and organize it neatly so you can go back to it if necessary. It is also a good time to hold a post-mortem on the project so all team members can reflect on what went right, or wrong during the project.
Credit @EveryVowel
What does it take to paint the room black?
This is a common interview question. It’s a matter of though processes and how people think, not what their training is one way or the other.
A person that thinks as a project manager would say “I need paint, rollers, maybe some people to do it, tape, tarps, it would take this long and be roughly this dollar amount” They are looking at it from a perspective of what project management refers to as the Iron Triangle. Time, Cost and Scope. If you increase the scope it will take more time or more budget. If you want to decrease time, it will likely take more resources, costing more, or you have to eliminate something from scope.
However, a BA’s first question, should be again “WHY”. They want to understand why we would do a project like that. What is the value to the organization to paint the room black. And if they get an answer like “I just like that color, or because the CEO wants it that way” they should continue to ask the question of why. Again, be careful in how you ask that question,however.
If the business analyst hears some type of value statement like “Painting the room Black will allow us to provide a movie theatre in this space to be able to increase our profitability by $10,000 a month when opening it to the public” Then by all means, go ahead and paint away.
Now there are some areas that overlap or crossover from Project Management and Business Analysis. Those are Scope, Risk, Communications and Stakeholders.
Just 4 areas. In all of the BABOK and all of the PMBOK which are roughly 400 pages each of processes, definitions, tools and techniques, there are only four areas.
Scope and Risk are two areas that directly intersect with one another and cross over almost in their entirety.
Communications aligns a little different. The project manager would be most concerned with delivery of a communication to higher level executives and sponsors of a project and will likely only report on updates for the project. A business analyst creates a different communications plan than does a project manager. Their message being delivered to end users, developers, and testers from within the organization. Sure, they may also provide some strategic communications to executives, but those BA’s that do, are typically not working on a long term project, but more systems and solutions delivery and the adoption. So the message is very different.
As a result the same is true for Stakeholders. There are different messages created for the different groups of stakeholders. A Business analyst may develop and stakeholder analysis for a particular project that a project manager will use to identify different people and their influence within the organization. They will however use this information in different ways.
Nedra asks why?
Yes, you do.
Give CC example. The architect burned through 5 hours conducting a POC.
Give real world example, KM.
A developer was a PM, project went over budget.
I have heard may times - "We don't need a PM, you just write status reports, right?"
True!
A Business Analyst of some type should always be involved in strategy.
Nedra has thoughts on this! :)
What are your takeaways if there are no questions.